In honor of their 50th anniversary, alongside To the Racy Brink, the Museum of Contemporary Art is staging We Are Here, an exhibition program consisting of three semi-concurrent exhibits drawing on the […]
Curation Obscures Art in the MCA’s I Am You
Bianca Bova
Bianca Bova is a Chicago-based curator. She has worked with national and international contemporary arts organizations including Gunder Exhibitions, SiTE:LAB, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and EXPO Chicago.
Theatre Oobleck’s Closed Casket: Baudelaire’s Final Act
It is no small undertaking to decide to adapt Charles Baudelaire’s seminal 19th century volume of poetry, Les fleurs du mal. Some may find its sheer length and poetic complexity daunting, but for […]
Everyone’s Picasso, Amid Confusion and Disappointment
First, it was quiet. Like a street in the early hours before a parade. A feeling of ceremony hung in the air, underscored by the seats still being set up before the […]
Slack Curation Belies History at the MCA’s To the Racy Brink
In 1967, a small group of curators, art historians, artists, critics, and architects set up shop in the former Playboy headquarters at 237 E. Ontario Street. They shared in a singular conviction: […]
Cultural Legacy in the Year of Public Art: From Picasso to Mucca Pazza
At the start of 2017, the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events announced Chicago’s Year of Public Art (YOPA), in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the famed untitled Picasso sculpture that […]
Mr. & Mrs. Wednesday Night’s Comedy of the Avant-Garde
The backroom of a dive bar is hardly where one expects to find fresh voices in contemporary performance art. Then again, The Hideout has never been just a dive bar. An unassuming […]
Classicisms Offers Articulate, If Incomplete, View of Classical Influences
The University of Chicago Smart Museum of Art’s recently mounted exhibition, Classicisms, presents itself ambitiously. The accompanying text authored by co-curators Larry F. Norman and Anne Leonard states that the exhibition is […]
The Rise of Integrated New Media Installations: What It Means When Public Art & Architecture Go Digital
No new building in Chicago was as highly anticipated in recent times as the engineering marvel that is 150 N. Riverside Plaza. The 54-story glass office tower–noted for its sharply angled structure […]
Institutional Response to Chicago’s Public Art Crisis Reminds Us That Citizens Must Fight for Cultural Welfare
A couple of weeks ago, I reported on Chicago’s emerging public art crisis. In that article, I cautioned against alarmism and optimism in equal measure, advice that still applies. I also noted […]
The Arts Club of Chicago: The Balance of Private Space and Public Engagement
The Arts Club of Chicago, tucked unassumingly on the corner of Ontario and St. Clair in Streeterville, may be one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated exhibition spaces in the city. Despite […]
Chicago’s Public Art Crisis: Time for Vigilance
The irony is unavoidable, and anyway, it’s appropriate: only in Chicago could a so-called ‘Public Art Crisis’ arise just three months into what has been deemed the Year of Public Art. It […]
Exhibition Showcasing Artists from All 50 Wards Disappoints
“THE SUBJECT IS CHICAGO,” the wall outside the gallery reads. “People. Places. Possibilities.” Purporting to be a survey of contemporary Chicago by way of exhibiting the work of one practicing artist from each […]